


Adventures in Storytelling, or: how Erik prevents tantrums and says a bit too much

by ladanse



Series: 5 Times The Students Figured Something Out about their Professor (and one time they learned the full story) [6]
Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Humor, M/M, erik takes the kiddies on a field trip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-16 01:20:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11818209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladanse/pseuds/ladanse
Summary: Erik gets roped into taking the children on a field trip, and his murderous expression is losing potency by the day. Confessing his love for Charles in front of all and sundry isn't going to be much help, he knows, but he isn't given another option.aka Erik's Soft Dad Side shows up at the manor





	Adventures in Storytelling, or: how Erik prevents tantrums and says a bit too much

**Author's Note:**

> my mom thinks i'm researching college major pathways right now: something which I am, in fact, Not Doing
> 
> read the others for context! this is the final +1 time (the students get the whole story)

 

"Absolutely not," says Erik.

  
Charles frowns. His eyes are blue and piercing, alive with familiar passion: "Erik, you _must_."

  
"You," spits Erik, "do not control me," and Charles has the utter nerve to roll his eyes.

  
"I've rented a nice minivan; should be quite large enough for seven children," he says, turning his chair away briskly. "You've had plenty of experience wrangling bickering, and the children love you. You'll be fine."

  
"Charles," says Erik, his voice hard and flinty, powers squeezing Charles' watch tighter around his wrist. "You _can't_."

  
"Can't I?" Charles asks, raising a challenging eyebrow. Erik feels an abrupt sense of doom; he shakes his head as Charles turns his chair towards the door. "Bobby, Marie!" he calls. "Come to my study, please."

  
" _No_ ," says Erik, suddenly, having caught on. "No, don't you dare - "

  
"John, Clarice, Marcos, Lauren, Elena - "

  
"Charles, _why_ ," says Erik. It's too late. The sound of Erik's doom is the innocent pattering feet of a group of preteen mutants, tripping over each other in their eagerness to reach the study.

  
"Professor X," says John, jumping high and landing on a bookshelf, which cracks slightly under his weight. "What's up?"

  
Charles winces. "Do get down from there, dear," he says, and John's face immediately threatens a sulk. Recognizing this, Charles deploys his most easily reachable weapon - "I've a surprise for you." Their faces are expectant. "Erik has agreed to take you on a field trip to the museum."

  
"Really?" says Clarice, and Charles nods. A loud cheer goes up, and Erik approximates a reassuring smile, knowing that his expression falls directly between sharklike and constipated.

  
Elena's laugh is loud and tinkling. "Mister M's doing his weird face again," she says.

  
"You didn't want to take us, did you," says Marie, suspicious.

  
Bobby's face falls, immediately threatening the liquidity of Charles' expensive whiskey, so Erik has no choice but to say - "Of course not," smoothly. "We were just discussing it. Your darling Professor has rented us a van. And promised you ice cream."

  
Charles, who has done nothing of the sort, gives him a dirty look, which then goes thoughtful. _Am I?_ asks Charles. _Your darling?_

  
Erik does _not_ blush. He is a man very concerned with the sanctity and privacy of his mind, and would never appreciate unnecessary invasions -

  
"Mister M's turning red," reports Lauren.

  
"Scott told me that when he does that, it means the Prof said something we're not supposed to hear," says Bobby, solemn.

  
"Summers needs to mind his own business," Erik practically growls, and quite apart from being properly terrified, the children laugh.

  
"And Ororo told me that Jean said when they say to mind your own business, they're being dirty," says John, with the air of one who has Knowledge about such things. The preteen giggles grow more pronounced.

  
" _Enough_ ," says Erik, and they quiet down. He nods sharply at Charles: a concession. "We'll be leaving tomorrow at 8:00am precisely. If you are not waiting in the foyer, you will not be going. Now get to class."

  
There's a course of "Yes, Mister M!" and "Bye, Professor X!" and Lauren actually darts in and gives him a hug, which Erik accepts because she's ten and tiny and a year older than Nina will ever be.

  
Charles is watching him with a suspicious upturn to his lips. "Not a word," says Erik, severely, and sweeps out of the room in a valiant attempt to regain his dignity.

  
*

 

"Who said he would _what_ , now?" says Scott, when he hears, as Ororo stifles quiet giggles next to him.

  
"Do you think we can go?" says Jubilee. "I would _love_ to watch Magneto lecture about evolution - "

  
" - we all know _that_ , Lee - "

  
"Shut up!"

  
"Check with the Prof," says Pietro to Jean. "I don't believe it."

  
Jean shakes her head. "Uh, no thanks. Unless you guys forgot what happened last time I tried to snoop."

  
Jubilee makes a face, and Scott shudders. "Please don't make me think about it."

  
"At least you didn't have to actually _see it_ \- "

  
"I, for one," says Kurt, talking over them, "do not actually believe that any of this is real."

  
"It is," say Pietro and Jean, simultaneous. "Trust us," Jean adds.

  
"How does that even happen?" says Scott. "They're different in literally _every way_ \- "

  
"They did try to blow each other up a few times," Pietro reminds them. "The first time I met Mag- uh, Erik, the Prof decked him. Right in the face."

  
"He did what?"

  
" _No_ ," breathes Scott. The others watch the maniacal grin on his face with not a little trepidation. "Details, holy shit."

  
Pietro tells them. "Damn," says Jubilee, approving. "I didn't think the Prof had it in him."

  
Scott opens his mouth to make the obvious "in him" joke, and Jean immediately forestalls this by punching him in the arm. "Ow," he says instead. Her smile is catlike and smug.

  
"What?" says a little voice behind them, and everyone freezes. "Professor X punched Mister M?"

  
They turn to find several pairs of eyes staring at them with horrified curiosity.

  
"That's what happened when my parents divorced," says Elena, solemn. "Are they gonna get divorced too?"

  
"Um," says Scott.

  
Jubilee opens her mouth, valiantly. "Well, they're not exactly married - "

  
"They're not?" says Bobby. "Then why does Mister M stay in Professor X's room? My momma said no one was supposed to - "

  
"Well," interrupts Ororo, hastily, grasping for an explanation. "It is different for two men. They are not allowed to get married, even if they wanted to."

  
"Why?" says Lauren, looking angry, and Marie frowns. "They don't want to get married?"

  
"No one is saying that," says Jean, placating, but Marie's face is screwing up with impending tears.

  
"It's okay," says Clarice, quiet. "My gramma said that sometimes people don't love each other anymore and that's okay."

  
"It's not okay!" says Marie, while Lauren puts in, angrily - "They do _too_ love each other!"

  
"Why don't we all calm down a bit," says Ororo. "Don't worry about - "

  
John settles the situation by looking at the door, considering; then, he bellows, "MISTER M!"

  
There is a sudden silence. Then the other children take up the cry, and the dining room grows both very shrill and very loud.

  
Magneto sweeps into the room, looking murderous. This is not, however, unusual, so the children only quiet slightly. "What is it," he says, and then Marie runs and throws herself into his arms.

  
Magneto catches her, looking surprised and vaguely reverent, carefully pulling up Marie's gloves. "What's wrong?"

  
"They said you and Professor X don't love each other! They said he punched you!" She bursts into actual tears, and when Magneto scouts the kitchen he finds Elena turned away angrily, and Bobby shrinking into himself, towards the door. 

  
"Oh," says Magneto, softly, and he kneels, setting Marie gently on the floor. "Well, then." He lowers himself as well, sitting cross-legged on the hardwood; the kids swarm him, questing.

  
"I'm going to tell you a story," he says, clearing his throat, "and I want all of you to listen very carefully. Do you understand?"

  
They nod, silent, and Erik begins.

  
"Once, there were two men. One thought very much that he could change the world, and the other thought that the world didn't deserve to change. Those two men fell very deeply in love, and for a time, all was well. But they each tried very hard to make the other see their side of the story, and they hurt each other in the process. Then - they never wanted to see each other again. They thought they would be enemies."

  
"You are children, and so you won't know this, yet, but people can change, and quite a lot. As time passed, the happy man learned to hate the world, and the angry man learned to see happiness. He had children of his own - " Erik's eyes flick, briefly, to Pietro, and then to the heavens - "and found that peace was possible. Then, after a great many trials and much more pain, the two men found each other, and decided to try again."

  
The room is absolutely silent, and Erik's lips quirk in a smile. "But, _schatz_ , remember this. Charles and I - we love each other very much. It hasn't stopped us - stopped me - from doing things that we will regret. But it does mean that we have chosen our future over our past, and that I will fight with every breath to keep you - all of you - safe. There are real enemies out there, and Charles and I have decided that we will not fight each other if it means that the rest of you may be harmed."

  
The kids look vaguely placated; the older teens sit in a strange, reverent silence.

  
Then Lauren says, "I _told_ you so," in the self-satisfied tones only a fourth-grader can manage, and the tension breaks. Magneto rises gracefully to his feet and pats Marie on the shoulder, then begins to gently herd the children back in the direction of their bedrooms.

  
Then, he straightens and takes a moment to look each of them in the eyes. His gaze is steady, but the back of his neck is red, his posture stiff, with something akin to embarrassment; he clears his throat. "Summers, Lee, Wagner - I expect the van to be packed with water and snacks before tomorrow. Grey, Storm, and - " here he hesitates, briefly, " - Maximoff, see to it that all seven of the children are awake and dressed in time to leave. Is that clear?"

  
Most of them nod, bracing themselves for Scott's inevitable complaint - his attitude towards Magneto is one of the few constants of the manor, along with Professor X's insistence on a glass of milk before bed and Jean setting the east wing on fire once a week - but it never comes. Scott simply rolls his eyes and nods, and Magneto, dignified, steals three biscuits from the open package on the counter and sweeps out.

  
"You're going soft, Summers," says Pietro, and Scott promptly puts out a fist, aiming for his shoulder. He misses when Pietro blurs out of the way, stumbling into the counter, but he's grinning.

  
"Fuck off," he says, friendly, and pushes himself upright, then opens the pantry door and hoists a 24-pack of water bottles over his shoulder. "Are you guys helping or not?"

  
Jubilee shrugs and rummages for granola bars; Pietro very carefully pretends his eyes aren't watching the hallway Magneto left down, and drifts toward his room with Jean and Ororo close behind. The mansion is quiet, murmuring with the sounds of students yawning and shuffling into pajamas and hushing each other into sleep.

  
*

  
From his study, Professor Charles Xavier takes a deep breath, and allows himself a quiet, real smile. In this moment, he is at peace.

**Author's Note:**

> my personal headcanon is that in this verse, Erik's protective side is more used for good and Charles' is a bit more destructive than in the original trilogy bc of apocalypse, nina & also the communication with their future selves
> 
> kudos and comments I beg
> 
> i'm on tumblr [here](http://www.bollywood-and-phoenix-feather.tumblr.com).


End file.
